Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans

I would certainly hope so, given Jasley's complete lack of subtlety and that "fuck this guy" look that was on his face.

He almost certainly does, but it's plausible for him to (a) need to be informed that it's happening right now, and (b) be caught off-guard by the numbers, firepower, and/or tactics Jasley is using. They're both being depicted as reasonably smart guys, after all.

Episode 42 is out. No. Fucking. Mercy.

You better fasten your seatbelts because we're now entering the endgame for the season!

Jasley is shown no mercy and is executed.

Tekkadan is now fully commited to helping Fareed who know has evidence linking Galan to Rustal? Where did he get that? I can buy him acquiring evidence against Iok. Don't know what's up with Rustal though. He was completely absent this episode. But he made a deal with Teiwaz on Iok's behalf.

Tekkadan seems fully ready to embrace their inner demon, especially Akihiro.

Barbatos Rex's tail seems a little too powerful for something so small.

Wow, that recap was hardcore

McMurdo being a badass without ever getting in a fight

And now I guess the final arc is starting. Be interesting to see how everything ties together, especially with some of the foreshadowing we've had

Introducing the Barbatos Lupus Urdnot Wrex Rebake Full City Trooper

• I was slightly surprised at how easily Jasley went down considering how long this battle has been built up. Emphasis on "slightly". Damn good fight though.
• I like Rex.
• I see that Julieta has learned the wrong lesson from her fight with Amida. Hopefully Vidar will talk her out of it.
• Judging by the preview, Macky killed Gaelio's dad and the two minor Seven Stars. I wonder how he's going to explain this to Almiria. Assuming that he doesn't just plan on killing her.
• Poor Kudelia.
• Next time: Mika v. Galigali. And it looks like we're finally learning Macky's backstory.

Never has a Curbstomp Battle ever been so cathartic.

Look like Jasley underestimate Iok's incompetent XD (I actually chuckled).

Hmm, from that reaction to those Hyakuri, I guess Mika has flashback of when he fought Lafter. When he said "I got you now.", he probably think how Lafter would manage to get out.

...Look like Reginlaze Julia will get upgrade into Reginlaze Julietta soon. Poor Vidar...

I have vibe of Godfather there, look like McMurdo want to get rid of Jasley but doesn't want to get his hand dirty. And without Naze to keep them in check, Tekkadan is too unpredictable to keep in Teiwaz. And so he play along while Jasley set up himself against Tekkadan. Yeah, Jasley really bring it himself. His pathetic death is really satisfied to watch.

Fall of Turbines arc finally end, but the revolution arc start immediately without even wrap-up breather episode.

Tekkadan is back to where they start, now they have to work with McGillis since there's no other choice even if it's task far too great for their confident.

We have about 9 episodes left and I guess the revolution movement will end some time before that. Wonder if Kudelia will ever get back to center role again before the end?

Well that was easy. Jasley had no way to deal with Mika, let alone all the named pilots. Even Hush got to be useful. Barbatos has a super tail now. That's certainly proving its worth already. Nice commitment to being ready to kill all the enemies, even if they can sympathize with their plight. That historically hasn't gone well for Tekkadan. Iok the Brave gets a timeout. Viva la revolution! Full steam ahead to mass chaos.

Good to see Jasley get what's been coming to him. This is about as painless as it could get once McMurdo knew who sold out the Turbines.

And Kudelia's (or is it Merribit's? I have a bit of trouble with voices sometimes) narration at the end isn't ominous, no.

That was lovely.

So, which villains are left to deal with here? Iok, McGillis,Rustal, Nobliss?

I think it was Merribit doing the narrations this episode.

I think this is first time I seen mass Tranquil Fury ever. Though it didn't felt awesome, just empty. I wonder if I will feel like that for rest of show...

That's what Revenge is, ultimately. Empty. Even if you manage to accomplish it, it solves nothing, brings back nothing. You're left with only what you had before: loss.

I'm happy to see Jasley go down, but mostly because now he can't cause any further trouble. His death doesn't undo what he's done.

I think that's really evident in the scene afterward: there's no joy in Tekkadan. They're trying to convince themselves that they've done something of worth ("Now we have something we can offer the Turbines"), but they're aware that ultimately it's hollow ("We don't know if they're grateful for it though").

It'll be interesting to see what McMurdo does from here on out. On the one hand, he understands why Tekkadan broke with Teiwaz and personally approves of their reasons. On the other, though, mafia organizations don't tend to take betrayal lightly, and McMurdo may be forced to oppose Tekkadan in order to uphold Teiwaz's image.

edited 5th Feb '17 10:45:04 AM by DarkHunter

I think that's what I liked most about the episode, them killing Jasley fixed absolutely nothing. Naze is still dead and the Turbines are still disbanded. That family is still separated, only now Azee has to live with some tremendous Survivor Guilt.

Also, Akihiro didn't get to kill Jasley, just slaughter his way through a bunch of child slaves just like him. Tekkadan's going pretty dark, and the one person with the best chance of saving them, Kudelia, is getting more and more distant.

I'm with everyone that Jalsey's demise felt good especially with Mc Murdo's chat with him. It hit the satisfaction checklist. We see Jalsey's control erode as it becomes obvious he picked a fight with a force of nature he cannot fight back against; and his true pathetic nature show through more and more. Makes me wonder if my theory that Mc Murdo saw enough of that; and it's why he didn't ever hold Jalsey in the regard he did Naze. Probably.

Yet the hollow victory is felt, Tekkadan cannot turn back. Now they're aligned with Mc Gillis and the long awaited revolution begins... Just how bad is this going to turn out?

Can I also say I wanna hug poor Akihiro... just damn. IBO writers don't let him suffer anymore.

I was surprised as any Mc Gillis got proof of Rustal's connection to Galen Mossa, but I guess even the most dutiful of covert agents leaves some paper trail, and it just took a lot of digging. Not surprised he had plenty of dirt on Iok. All he'd need is a battle recorder from ANY of the Turbines MS given to him from that battle or Tekkadan's and he'd have visual proof of Iok using the 'illegal weapons' he framed the Turbines with; plus no doubt his checking up on the warehouse found a good size trail since Idiok is not good with covering his ass. I'm kinda surprised Rustal bothered to shield the moron from Teiwaz's wrath; then again he knows Tekkadan's coming so maybe he's just cutting off one less enemy coming for them.

Tho' I can imagine Iok's probably getting an earful now; hopefully several Bright Slaps. I mean, enough's enough, Iok probably gave Mc Gillis most of the ammo he needs to bury both factions. I think he's earned more than a death glare or a rebuking lecture.

Wonder what Mc Gillis is gonna do with the other Seven Star heads; kill them or put them under house arrest?

I feel for poor Kudelia, you can tell part of her wants to be at Tekkadan's (or mostly Mikazuki and Atra's). Yet they cut ties because they don't want her caught in the crossfire, nor for their revenge to destroy her work. Kudelia, the Sakura farm, Sakura, Cookie, Cracker, and the Turbine girls are all precious to Tekkadan and don't want them dragged into the bloodshed and wish to protect them. I must admit my respect for Merrbit has gone up; part of me was wondering if she'd left Tekkadan when they cut ties with Teiwaz. Instead she's shown she's sticking with the boys, not just for Nadi (despite being a big reason) but because she wants to try and keep supporting the boys and helping them. Good on her, they may need her clear head before this mess is over.

Vidar seems ready to put his own plans into action; and the long hoped for duel between Gundam Barbatos and Gundam Vidar comes.

Julietta is worrying me she's going to take the Ein route; and it seems Rustal's chief engineer actually gives proof of Mc Gillis's pointing out in Season 1 that "While publically Gjallerhorn decries bionic modification; it's all really to keep OTHERS from using it against them." given how casually she brings up 'replacing the human parts' without a second thought despite the universal taboo Gjallerhorn put in place.

Nine episodes left....let's do this Tekkadan.

edited 5th Feb '17 11:50:42 AM by GBHPrime84

That honestly went better than I expected. The fight against Jasley was never in question, but the political aspect went about as well as it possibly could. McGillis kept Iok out of the way (and revealed some dirt on Rustal in the process, which is even more impressive!), and McMurdo already knew the score so didn't mind that Tekkadan was going after Jasley. Tekkadan's split with Teiwaz was amicable, given that McMurdo seems to like them personally but realizes that they're not great for business (despite their continued success). All in all, basically ideal for Tekkadan.

Re: revenge, are we even watching the same show? Basically the entire previous episode was about Tekkadan consciously and deliberately deciding not to take revenge despite knowing that Jasley is the one who betrayed the Turbines. It's not until Jasley has Lafter killed — demonstrating that he's still a threat to the Turbine girls — that Tekkadan decides to go after him. In other words, they go after Jasley to eliminate a threat to their friends that are still vulnerable, not to take revenge for their friends that were killed. (That they get revenge in the process is incidental, not why they're going after him.)

It looks like we're finally going to get the lowdown on McGillis' endgame next episode. I'm looking forward to seeing what the deal with those Gjallarhorn revolutionaries is. The rhetoric they're throwing out seems to be railing against the Seven Stars in particular, not just corruption in general — but they met with McGillis personally, and on friendly terms. Is McGillis going to throw the power of the Fareed family behind the rebels and make himself out as the good guy? Or is he going to help topple himself and start living as Montag full time? Honestly, I've sort of been wondering for a while if McGillis has been running a Zero-Approval Gambit and not intending to survive the revolution he's orchestrating.

That occurred to me too. How much of a revolution against the Seven Stars can it be if one of the Seven Stars comes out on top in the end?

Perhaps McGillis plans to use the fact that he was adopted into the Fareed family as a loophole for that?

Jalsey death was suitably pathetic, which is good. It won't close the hole in their hearts, but it's a closure at least - the though of him getting away with his crimes would be unbearable.

So, they decided to put their lot with Macky, and his revolution. I don't know if it's a wise idea, but we'll see.

Poor Kudelia, she feels so lonely right now. Tekkada obviously just wants to protect her from getting dragged into the war, but it must still feel awful to be cut off like that. And the lack of her influence won't do them any favors either. I hope she decides to do something about it.

So, we are heading towards the big final arc of the season. Things will get a lot worse before they get better, that's for sure/

People are talking about revenge because this wasn't just a clinical elimination of a threat. They brought along a Hekija as a symbolic agent of the Turbines. Orga accepted Jasley's call out of pure sadism. They refused to accept a surrender and stop the killing despite knowing they had backup that could very effectively prevent Jasley from ever becoming a threat again (let's be real here - if they'd handed him over to McMurdo, they would never have seen him again). They were pushed, sure, but that doesn't make this any less of an act of rage, and it was an act of rage that resulted in a whole bunch of dead children in addition to the removal of a troublesome enemy. This was not something we were supposed to feel entirely comfortable with - that's why Zack got the last word, and why Akihiro couldn't come up with a proper counterargument to Galan.

• Starts humming Nuclear* But seriously, it's pretty sad seeing everyone (even Merribit) being so accepting of the 'Kill or be killed' thought process when it comes to human debris.

Of course it wasn't a clinical, emotionless operation. Jasley killed their friends — their family. They were pissed off at him and not in a mindset to forgive. I don't really see a problem with that, given what Jasley had done.

My point is that they were just as pissed off at his bullshit when they decided not to go after him at the beginning of last episode. It wasn't until he proved that he wouldn't stop until they stopped him that they went for him. Saying "they gave in to revenge" when they demonstrably held back despite their anger is silly.

Suggesting that it would have somehow been morally superior to hand him over to McMurdo instead of killing him themselves is silly too. McMurdo would have just killed him instead; refusing to pull the trigger yourself is moral cowardice, not taking the high ground. Maybe sending him to Gjallarhorn? We don't know how Gjallarhorn treats prisoners, but it's sort of a moot point since I don't believe he'd actually done anything illegal, so Gjallarhorn wouldn't care. I guess they could have kept him prisoner themselves? But they're not in the rehabilitation business; they went for expediency over mercy. Given the world they live in, I find it hard to blame them.

As far as having to kill relatively innocent rank-and-file pilots in order to stop the evil men commanding them, that's something Gundam has been doing since 1979. Tekkadan isn't anything unique in that regard. The idea that you sometimes have to kill good men in order to stop bad men is like Gundam Ethics 101.

You should try to tell that to someone I was discussing this with on Neogaf earlier today. They went full-force Ron the Death Eater on Tekkadan because of the foot soldiers they've killed up til now.

Even during Brewers when they were actively trying to rescue Masahiro and others, they were still willing to kill Human Debris as needed - Mika with the pilots, Shino's assault team with a literal room full of kids. They didn't like it - well, Shino & co didn't - but they still did what had to be done. War is all Hell, and Tekkedan knows it.

Now that Murderzuki has become one with Barbatos Bladewolf REXCELSUS, and Akihiro has accepted his destiny as Space Guts, let the Gjallar Bowl commence! What is Pedo Char's game strategy? Will Juliette fulfill her dream of becoming Rustal's MVP? Will Atra be the first to score? Will Iok use the Ideon Gun strategy? And just what does Darth Vidar have planned for the Charmageddon Half-Time Show? Find out next week on Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! TOMINO FOR THE MARTIAN THRONE!

edited 5th Feb '17 8:01:47 PM by TheAirman